M7 Real Estate agrees letting of former ADM Londis HQ in Kildare

Pan-European investor and asset manager M7 Real Estate has completed three leases on behalf of a major financial institution at logistics properties in or close to Dublin totalling 138,460sq ft.

The largest of the three lettings sees Caulfield Transport taking all 113,000sq ft at the former Kildare headquarter office and distribution facility of convenience store operator ADM Londis. The transport warehousing and logistics specialist has agreed to occupy the premises on a 10-year lease with a fixed rental uplift at the end of year five.

The agreement of the deal represents a quick turnaround of the property for M7 Real Estate, and is indicative of the strength of demand for quality larger-scale logistics facilities in Dublin and the greater Dublin area. M7 acquired the former Londis headquarters for about €6.25 million last August, and has, in the interim, engaged in asset management to bring it into line with Caulfield Transport’s specific requirements.

Located in Johnstown, Co Kildare, the facility comprises 10,554sq m (113,603sq ft) of warehouse and office space on a 2.3 hectare (5.6 acre) site.

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The property is situated within a two-minutes’ drive from junction 8 on the N7, five minutes’ drive from Naas town centre and 15 minutes’ drive from the M50 motorway.

Elsewhere, M7 Real Estate has completed two further lettings at North Park, Finglas, where an existing occupier, Cyclone Couriers, has taken 12,500sq ft across two units to support its expansion. It has signed a five-year lease at €9.50 per sq ft. A 12,960sq ft unit has also been let to air-filtration systems provider Camfil Ireland, at just over €10 per sq ft on a five-year lease.

Commenting on the completion of the three lettings, James Smith, asset manager at M7, said: “These deals are representative of the strength of the market for industrial space in Dublin, where we are seeing significant rental growth for well-located assets, like those at Johnstown and North Park, which are in short supply. The leases, as well as the upgrade works at Johnstown, were completed despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, reflecting M7’s on-the-ground asset management expertise and our ability to meet the needs of our tenants.”

M7’s Irish portfolio comprises 16 assets extending to about 1,000,000sq ft, primarily in industrial and logistics space.

In January 2020, the company acquired Primeside Park in Dublin for €6.75 million. The industrial estate, which is in Ballycoolin, has 71,300sq ft of floor area split over 25 units. The development is almost fully let.

The group also controls Century Business Park in Finglas, which it acquired for €4.47 million in September 2019, and the Westlink industrial estate in Dublin 10, which it bought for €13,870,000 in 2018.

First investment

Its first investment here came in 2017 when it bought Fumbally Lane, a combined office and residential development in Dublin 8 which was on the market for €24 million. M7 sold Fumbally Lane to BCP Asset Management in 2018 for €33.5 million, following the completion of a comprehensive asset management programme which enabled the property’s vacancy rate to plummet from 17 per cent to 2 per cent through the addition of 19 new tenants, and which saw its annual rental income grow by €1.14 million.

M7 operates across 14 countries. It manages a portfolio of about 835 retail, office and industrial assets with a value of about €5.1 billion.